A couple of days ago I was invited to a podcast. One of the questions I was asked was… “What advice you have for entrepreneurs” Or that kind of question. But the answer was instantaneous. Do, do and do. Many are frozen. Other overwhelmed for all things they have to do. Others are lazy and procrastinators that use busyness to justify inaction. Others want perfection that is one of the worst procrastinators’ behaviours. And they don’t launch or try anything until perfect. And you know that...
1 day ago • 1 min read
I stopped this idea of paying for an hour. It’s outdated. Consultancy as we know it is dead. But many consultants have not realized of that. Paying by the hour encourages inefficiency. It’s easy. Lazy. Change a monthly salary for monthly hours at a rate. Sounds familiar. But it’s wrong. Knowledge cannot be measure in hours. You have it. And you can present it in seconds… not hours. Some people understand this concept. It happened to me a few months ago. A post in LinkedIn about a particular...
3 days ago • 1 min read
If you have visited bars once in your life, you’ve had one of these moments… You know. That moment when someone brags at the bar drinking another gyn about a deal they “closed”? They talk and talk. And you just know they didn’t read the contract. Yeah. This is that story—except with trains. Let’s go to Sydney Airport Rail Link, late 1990s. The private consortium thought they had cracked the code: Four stations. Direct airport access. Passengers in the tens of thousands. “We’ll be printing...
4 days ago • 1 min read
On a corner. Waiting to cross the Street. I see one of those big LED billboards full of ads. First ad. Store Brand, package of 1 kg macaroni. Save $0.79. Next ad: A new perfume by DIOR. Then, people wonder why they don’t sell or why some think that marketing is a waste of money. With marketers like the ones deciding to put their ads on those billboards you don’t need competition or the next crisis to justify failure. Come on! And you know what? With PPPs is exactly the same. Yeah. Public...
5 days ago • 1 min read
One of the myths I hear all the time: “Why let the private sector finance if public debt is cheaper?” Sounds smart. But it’s wrong. First—there are PPPs that financed themselves cheaper than governments. Think Canada, Australia, UK deals during times of tight public budgets, when private sponsors locked better terms because of their structure, guarantees, or sheer market confidence. Think of some less developed countries where lenders prefer dealing with private sponsors than unexperienced...
6 days ago • 1 min read
I’m a fan of Artificial Intelligence. But as in any gold rush, my recommendation is… Buy shovels. MIT has determined by 95% of all AI ventures are failing. The guys of MacKinsey are a little more cautions and are leaving the statistics in 87%. Gain volume when everyone can copycat you in days does not seem a good business. In the meantime Endivia will continue to sell chips like hell. Microsoft, Amazon, solutions for the gold minors and power computing. Google, Facebook & Co will sell data…...
7 days ago • 1 min read
They built a machine… well oiled by the way. They didn’t just run PPPs. The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) in Chile created a dedicated Concessions Unit in the 1990s. When other developed countries thought about. Tried to invent the wheel. Or create something too customized, too unique and too unbankable. Chile won them all. Delivered infrastructure like hell. Modernize the country at fast pace. When other dreamt, Chile delivered. Not consultants. Not a donor-driven office. A real, permanent...
8 days ago • 1 min read
I see millions wasted as if they were a cleanexes or tissue or whatever. For many stupid reasons. Frustrating. Millions from taxpayers. Millions from shareholders and companies. In stupid things. These guys will save all this money and even more trouble and embarrassment by having tattooed on their brains a few concepts. Basic concepts. Around 100. When is a project too small for a PPP? What do equity sponsors look for in an RFQ? How many bidders should be shortlisted? What causes good teams...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Great ambition. A mega-highway to connect Bogotá with the Caribbean coast. Part of Colombia’s flagship 4G PPP program — 2,500+ km of highways, with international bidders and world-class consultants shaping the deals. Wow. Projects like that satisfy the darkest wet dreams of consultants, builders and equity providers alike. As you can imagine there was a great setup: The government brought in first-class legal and financial advisors, funded partly by multilaterals. Competitive procurement,...
10 days ago • 1 min read